A damning new report into the Uvalde massacre has condemned the “chaos” and “systemic failures” in the response of both law enforcement and the school.
High school dropout Salvador Ramos killed 21 people, including 19 children, at Robb Elementary School in Texas on 24 May.
Police officers have already been roundly criticised for their response, after it was revealed it had taken more than an hour for them to bring down 18-year-old Ramos.
But on Sunday, a 77-page report showed there had been errors on multiple sides.
It is the first to criticise both state and federal law enforcement, and not just local authorities in Uvalde for the inaction at the school.
According to CNN, which saw a copy of the report before its planned publication time, blame rested on almost every agency who attended.
The media outlet said the report highlighted “systemic failures” and “ultimately poor decision-making” from officers both inside and outside the school.
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There was no overall command, “chaos,” and a lack of unity in decision-making.
And it also singled out the school for errors – it said security doors weren’t properly locked and some “active shooter” protocols weren’t followed.
There was a general “lackadaisical approach”, it said.
A Texas House investigative committee had been asked to look into the incident.
Around 40 people testified behind closed doors, including members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police chief and officers, the district superintendent, the school’s principal, a teacher and custodial staff.
Almost 400 law enforcement officials had been on site by the end of the shooting, including 149 border patrol agents, 91 state troopers, 25 Uvalde police offices, US Marshals and Drug Enforcement Agency staff.
A nearly 80-minute hallway surveillance video published by the Austin American-Statesman this week publicly showed for the first time a hesitant and haphazard tactical response, which the head of Texas’ state police has condemned as a failure and some Uvalde residents have labelled cowardly.
Calls for police accountability have grown in the small town since the shooting. So far, only one officer from the scene of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history is known to be on leave.
The report is the result of one of several investigations into the shooting, including another led by the Justice Department.
Another earlier this month, by tactical experts at Texas State University, alleged a Uvalde police officer had a chance to stop the gunman before he went inside the school armed with an AR-15.
But in an example of the conflicting statements and disputed accounts since the shooting, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin has said that never happened.
A teacher who survived the school shooting has said he will never forgive the police for taking over an hour to enter his classroom after the gunman first opened fire.
